Snow Skates

 

Bonanza's TV run was fairly straightforward--14 seasons on NBC from 1959 through 1973. Its comic book history is a little less straightforward, but not that complicated. Dell Comics dedicated four issues of Four Color to Bonanza. In 1962, they put out two issues of a dedicated Bonanza series. 

Then Dell had a sort-of messy divorce with Western Publishing, the company that licensed shows and movies, then produced the comics. Dell then distributed the comics. When the two entities parted with one another, Western created its own distribution company they called Gold Key.  Under the Gold Key banner, Western put out their own Bonanza series. It ran for 37 issues, from 1962 to 1970.

We'll look at one of the stories from Four Color #1221 (Sept.-Nov. 1961). 

"The Snow Walkers" was written by Gaylord Du Bois and drawn by Tom Gill. Gill's clear and effective art is part of what makes this story great, bringing De Bois' excellent script to life. 

If I may pause from the story review for a moment, let's give a shout out to Dell/Gold Key writers De Bois and Paul S. Newman. Both men were incredibly prolific and both wrote strong script after strong script in numerous genres. That Dell/Gold Key consistently produced great comics is in large part because of those two men.

Anyway, "Snow Walkers" begins when a detachment of soldiers arrive at the Ponderosa, hoping to buy some horses. Ben Cartwright wants to sell those horses, but declines to take a bank draft in lieu of cash. Later on, he explains why to his three sons. There were a number of things that were off about the soldiers--details about their behavior that didn't line up with usual military behavior.

The soldiers stay the night in a nearby bunkhouse. A blizzard kicks up and a man named Rolf Thornsen arrives at the door to the ranch house, looking to also spend the night. He's an old friend who is taking mail from California to nearby Virginia City. He travels on what he calls "Snow Skates," which we would call skis.

This is the sort of detail that helps mark Du Bois as a great writer. He did his research. At the time of the Wild West, the term "skis" had not yet been coined. "Snow Skates" is in fact what they would have been called.

In the morning, they get proof that the "soldiers" were in fact deserters. They've murdered the man guarding the horse pen and stolen the horses. They've got quite the head start, but Rolf has an idea. He can help the Cartwrights quickly make their own snow skates and they can essentially cut the bad guys off at the pass.

They run the deserters down at a remote cabin used by an old Indian and his daughter. The Indian has been murdered, but his daughter Birdsong hid in the snow and escaped. So the Cartwrights and Rolf don't have to worry about a hostage situation, but the deserters are holed up in a defensible position.

What follows is a well-choreographed action scene, which includes rolling a large boulder into the cabin, Hoss briefly being taken hostage before a well-aimed rifle shot from Little Joe gives him a chance to beat down on the bad guys, and the eventual surrender of those bad guys. 

The story ends with Ben giving the recovered horses to Birdsong so that she'll have a good dowry for the future. 

It is simply a well-told story. If it suffers at all, it's that Adam, Hoss and Little Joe don't have a chance to show off their own unique personalities and are essentially interchangable. Well, Hoss gets to show off his strength, but a live-action episode would have allowed Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon to individualize the brothers through their performances. 

But it does show Ben as a smart guy and a strong leader. And Gill's art shows off the action in a way that allows us to always understand what's going on. And the panel showing a murdered man's hand sticking out of the snow is an effective way of showing violent death without being overly gruesome. 

Bonanza was an excellent TV series (well, except for those episodes where one of the brothers falls in love and reminds us of that annoying Cartwright Curse). That the comic book adaptation showed the same skill in telling good stories is very much appreciated by fans of classic TV. 

Next week, we'll check in with Spider-Man. And it's only as I write this sentence that I wonder if I was subconciously led by the release of the new Spider-Man movie to decide to look a Spidey comic. If so, it really doesn't matter. We'll be jumping back to the Bronze Age, not looking at anything new. 

Santa Needs Rescuing!

 

cover art by Morris Gollub

"Santa's Sea Trip," with art by Arthur Jameson, appeared in Dell's Four Color #205 (December 1948) and proves that it's always a good idea to give Santa a hand when he needs it. The writer, by the way, is unknown.

The Navy ship "Gull" is on its way home to Boston, but bad weather means they probably won't be home in time for the crew to spend the holiday with their families. That's too bad, but what can be done about it?

A cabin boy mentions Santa Clause, earning a gentle teasing from one of the older crewmen. But Santa happens to be flying by and hears his name being spoken. He flies down for a look, but the storm buffets him. He and his toys tumble out of his sleigh.

Santa is rescued from the ocean and the ship's captain reacts with considerable aplomb when he sees who their visitor is. The crew then gathers up the toys from about the ship and put them under a tarp to protect them from the elements.

They do all this just because they want to help, but Santa will not let them go unrewarded. He promises them a gift. And that gift is quick in coming as the weather clears and suddenly getting home for Christmas is certain.

And, well, that's it. It's a very simple, straightforward 8-pager. But it's a fun 8-pager. Jameson's art gives it just the right look and sometimes a simple fable about assisting others and showing generosity can be more effective that an 800-page book.

Read it yourself online HERE.

Beaver Traps and Renegades

 

cover artist unknown

The second Ben Bowie story in Dell's Four Color #513 (November 1953) has Ben and his crew working for a living--they are trapping beaver.

Like the first story, this one was written the the super-prolific Paul S. Newman and drawn by Bill Overgard. Also like the first story, it's a well-constructed, tightly-written adventure story with lively art.

A fun mini-lesson on how to trap beaver gives the tale historical verisimilitude before Ben and his men realize someone is stealing the beavers from their traps. This leads to young Jim hiding out for a night at the entrance of a beaver dam, on the lookout for the thieves.

He spots them--a white renegade and a band of Algonquian Indians. Jim is spotted by the bad guys and captured. But he feeds them a story about a cache of beaver pelts nearby. This divides up the bad guys, so when Ben, Zeke and Nakah find Jim, half the bad guys are away looking for those pelts.

Jim is rescued and the rest of the bad guys are pursued. A battle ensues, with Ben winning a final victory when he knocks out the renegade.

Typical of Newman's scripts, this one moves at a fast pace from Point A to Point B and so on in a logical manner, telling a exciting story in an efficient and entertaining manner.

Read it yourself online HERE. 

Next week, we'll learn what happens when Santa gets lost at sea.

Defending the Fort

 

cover artist unknown

Four Color #513 (November 1953) is the second of Ben Bowie's half-dozen appearances in that magazine appearances in that magazine prior to the 18th-Century trapper getting his own series.

The first story in this issue was written by Paul S. Newman, which accounts for its fast pace and expert story construction. The art is by Bill Overgard.

The story--"The Hostiles"--is centered around a remote fort threatened by the Hurons. It's constructed as a series of sort of mini-adventures all keyed on the siege of the fort. Each incident adds to the overall tension before the last adventure brings the story to a conclusion.

Mini-adventure #1: The Hurons steal the fort's horses. Ben and his apprentice Jim follow and steal the horses back. This is followed by Ben and Jim leaving the fort to find the men originally sent after the horses, leading them back to the fort before they get jumped by the Hurons.

Mini-adventure #2: Two ladies unwisely take a canoe ride. Zeke and Nakah, coming to the fort to join Ben, save them from a Huron war party.

Soon, the fort is besieged by the Hurons. This leads to the next two mini-adventures--dealing with an Indian sharpshooter in a tall tree who can see into the fort, then saving a building set aflame with fire arrows. 

Finally, Ben tunnels out of the fort at night to scout the Huron position, then leads a group of men out through the tunnel to attack. The Hurons are captured and the fort is saved.

It's just a standard frontier adventure, not breaking any new ground. But Newman's great writing and Overgard's lively art make it very entertaining and reinforce my idea that Ben Bowie is one of the most consistently entertaining comic books of all time. 

Read it yourself online HERE. 

Next week, we'll take a look at the second story from this issue. 

Cover Cavalcade

 NOVEMBER IS HUCKLEBERRY HOUND MONTH!!

A Harvey Eisenberg cover from 1959.

Snipers, Tattoos and Secret Caves

Dell Comics' Roy Rogers #3 (March 1948) was drawn by Al Micale and written by prolific scribe Gaylord Du Bois. Du Bois not only wrote around 3000 comic book and comic strip scripts over the years--I've only read a small fraction of them, but I have yet to run across a bad script. The man was amazing.

This time, he adds to the adventure canon of Roy Rogers. Roy is riding through Montana when he meets Nancy Kirkland and Andy Johnson, whose uncles both own nearby ranches. Roy soon gets a chance to.., well, to be Roy Rogers when he catches Nancy after she's knocked off her horse by several of the mean-spirited Roulette brothers. 

Andy gets to show his backbone as well when he slugs one of the brothers. Later, the three friends find evidence that the Roulettes are doing some rustling.

That's bad enough, but when they ride back to one of the ranches, three of the four local ranch owners (including Nancy's dad and Andy's dad) are shot by a sniper.

That means the only ranch owner left--and the one who will now inherent the surrounding land--is Pa Roulette. That seems suspicious, until it turns out Pa Roulette is also dead. He was killed in what his son's claim was an accident. 

But nothing can be proved about anything. One of the men shot along with Nancy's dad was the owner and his will left the land to the children of the other three now-dead men. Neither Nancy nor Andy had any siblings, so Pa Roulette's ten sons will now inherent most of the land.

But there's a hint of another later will. No one can find this, though Roy helps the sheriff find the rifle used in the triple murder stashed in a small cave. 

Remembering a tattoo needle found on one of the victims, Roy plays a hunch and gets a court order to dig up Pa Roulette. His sons show up to put a stop to this, but all but one of them are killed in the ensuing gun fight. Roy's hunch proves to be a good one--the new will (leaving the land to Nancy and Andy) is tattooed on Pay's back. 

That doesn't quite bring the story to a close. Roy still needs to rescue Nancy from the lone surviving Roulette brother. But Roy does stuff like this three times before breakfast and soon has the situation in hand.

It is a typically strong Du Bois script. The mystery is good, the action scenes help keep the pacing fast and everything flows along logically. And its all given visual backbone by Micale's strong art. 

Gee whiz, that Gaylord Du Bois guy knew how to WRITE!

You can read this comic yourself HERE.

Next week, we'll return to the Avengers and see how they are doing. 

From Big to Little to Big Again

 

cover art by Walt Kelly

Last week, I said we'd review an issue of Hawkman, but I abruptly changed my mind when struck with an overwhelming desire to bask in the pure wonderfull-ness of Fiary Tale Parade.

The first story in F.T. Parade #9 (March-August 1944) is drawn by Walt Kelly. The writer is unknown, though its not impossible that this was Kelly as well. In any  case, the tale is fun to look at (typical of any Kelly-drawn tale) and cleverly written.

There's a big tournament coming up in the Kingdom, so the king sends his son (Prince Robin) out into the forest to invite travellers to the event. Robin finds a pair of dwarfs. They're reluctant to attend the tournament, since people tend to laugh at them. Robin insists, though, and--at first--people who see the drawfs stifle their laughter because the little guys are guests of the prince. 

But when Robin's dad sees them, he can't contain himself. And the king laughing at the drawfs gives everyone else implicit permission to do the same. But everyone soon finds out that laughing at these particular drawfs is not a wise thing to do. 

Everyone in the castle, except Robin, is reduced to the size of a drawf. This stops their laughter, but it also makes a quest necessary. The only way to reverse the curse is to get a magic ring from Snogweir the giant.

Armed with a magic sword and accompanied by the drawfs, Robin rides to Snogweir's castle. Robin chases off some cowardly goblins who are standing guard. When Snogweir comes out to fight, Robin and drawfs discover he can be beaten by repeatedly whacking him on his sensitive nose.

The ring is recovered and the curse is lifted.

The story is indeed cleverly written and beautifully illustrated--a phrase, by the way, the describes just about any story in Fairy Tale Parade. I especially enjoy the idea of the giant's bulbous nose being his weakpoint. It's all quite silly, but it's supposed to be silly and is told with enough confidence and craft to be enjoyed as an adventure story as well as a children's tale. 

You can read it for yourself here. 

Next week, we'll visit with a monkey who's running for mayor.

Cover Cavalcade

  MARCH IS ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEARS MONTH!

 From 1959: I could not close out Anthropomorphic Bears Month without highlighting another superb Morris Gollub cover. 

Cover Cavalcade

  MARCH IS ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEARS MONTH!

A Delightful 1961 cover by Harvey Eisenberg.

Cover Cavalcade

 MARCH IS ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEARS MONTH!

This awesome cover from 1962 was painted by Morris Gollub.

Cover Cavalcade

 MARCH IS ANTHROPOMORPHIC BEARS MONTH!

This 1962 cover is tentatively credited to Pete Alvarado.

Every Respectable Lost World Includes Man-Eating Plants!

cover artist uncredited

Gee whiz, you would think that hungry dinosaurs and violent cavemen would be trouble enough for Turok and Andar! Now, they gotta deal with carnivorous plants?

Well, to be fair, carnivorous plants are a standard part of most prehistoric-themed Lost Worlds. So it would be expected the two Indians would run into some eventually.

This all takes place in Turok Son of Stone #26 (December 1961-January 1962), in a story written by the prolific Paul S. Newman and drawn by Giovanni Ticci. (Ticci worked in Alberto Giolitti's studio and Giolitti did the inks. Ticci always does an excellent job of emulating Giolitti's style--I can rarely tell them apart.)

Turok and Andar encounter the plants while dodging an angry styracosaurus. The dinosaur gets caught in the plant's tentacles. It seems that nothing can escape the tentacles.

Except the next day, they notice that the dinosaur is gone--no remains, no bones, no nothin'. They soon discover a nearby tribe that has a secret powder able to open up the plants. The cavemen used this to get the styracosaurus's meat. 

Though Turok considers the meat his, its not worth going to war over. Andar, though, thinks the secret powder would be useful. So that night, he sneaks back to the tribe to steal some. 

Andar, here, acts foolishly. But he's young and an occasional foolish decision is a legitmate part of his character. And when he's discovered, it's just bad luck and not another stupid mistake.

Andar makes a break for it, but gets caught by a plant. Okay, maybe he is a little too stupid in this story.

Turok finds him and realizes they now really need the secret powder. He negotiates the the cavemen and, after saving them from a charging herd of iganodons, they tell him where to find the powder. They don't, though, tell him about the safe path. 

The unsafe way involves scaling a cliff and dealing with a flock of hungry pterodactyls. Fortunately, poison arrows continue to be the rock that smashes dinosaur scissors.

Turok frees Andar and, for bonus points, lures a hungry carnosaur into the plants unaffected by the powder. 

It is a fun story. As was true of nearly all of Newman's best Turok stories, it involves Turok using his head as well as his bow to triumph. Perhaps Andar does act a little too dumb this time around. But he is indeed young. I, of course, was a perfect little angel growing up, but who among the rest of you didn't occasionally act foolishly when you were a kid?

Next week, we'll visit again with the Fantastic Four for the beginning of a 4-part story arc.